Two Things 99% Of Coaches Do That Make Selling Damn Hard.
o you ever feel like you’re stuck in a coach-ception situation?
It feels like the only kind of coaches that are successful are coaches coaching coaches.
Say that three times quickly.
You want to know why coach-ception exists?
Because coaching is a hard sell.
What? You thought this was going to be inspirational? Try educational.
Consider this your a-ha moment for the day.
Because there are two things 99.99% of coaches do that make selling damn near impossible.
Mistake One: You're Selling The Process.
Coaching is a process. It’s a skill. But people don’t buy processes.
They buy the result of the process.
The goal, achieved.
The problem, solved.
The dream, made.
Which brings me to mistake two.
Mistake Two: You’re Selling High Level Lofty Concepts.
Can you please stop trying to sell things like
truth
freedom
connection
fulfilment
dream life
desires
life purpose
self-love
confidence
clarity
spirituality
peace
abundance
Because no one is ever going to spend their hard-earned cash on any of those terms.
They want solutions. They want outcomes. They want to achieve their dream.
They want results.
I would never pay someone to coach me into living my most authentic life. But I'd pay all the money in the world to a script consultant to help me polish my latest rom-com movie so I can sell it.
Which is me living my most authentic life.
Those big high level lofty concepts aren’t spend-worthy if you don’t make the connection to the real world.
How does something like confidence actually change your ideal client's day to day?
Your people aren't going to sit down and try to figure out how confidence is going to improve their life, and then come to the conclusion that by spending money on their confidence issues, they’ll be able to get a promotion.
See what I did there?
High level loft concept that doesn’t sell: Confidence.
Real life result that sells: Getting a promotion.
Here’s the kicker:
It’s your responsibility to show people the real life result.
It’s not your clients responsibility to sit down and uncover the mysteries of how your high level lofty concept is going to give them the dream solution result.
Because no one sits down to logically convince themselves to pay you.
People buy based on emotion.
So, where do you start if your brain has been completely washed with big lofty coaching terms that mean something to you but nothing to the person who’s supposed to pay you?
You ask yourself the most important question when writing for selling:
How is what I’m selling going to help someone get up and live in the real world every single day?
If your answer is: Being connected to my truth gives me freedom.
I’m going to say: What’s the point of freedom? What does freedom look like in my daily life?
And if you say: Freedom is getting up every Monday morning for the rest of your life never experiencing Monday-itis again…
I’ll say: Now you’re getting it.
Because that’s worth paying someone for.
See what I did there?
High level loft concept that doesn’t sell: Freedom.
Real life result that sells: Curing Monday-itis.
What I’m saying here is get specific.
Give me a real life everyday example of how this ‘freedom’ is going to help your ideal client.
No one buys coaching for the sake of coaching.
And how the hell is being ‘connected to my truth’ going to help me in my career, with my husband, with my friends, with my body, with getting to work everyday, with finding a car park, with dinner at the in-laws, with that monthly meeting with my boss.
With all the life things I have to do everyday, how are any of those big loft concepts going to help me?
If you can’t specifically paint that picture to someone, they aren’t ever going to buy what you’re selling.
If you can’t seem to sell coaching, it’s not you.
It’s a high level lofty concept issue.
Because here’s what I do know to be true.
You do solve problems.
You do turn dreams into reality and give people real results.
But your copy isn’t painting that picture.